MEET THE ARTIST

 “Valerie earned a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts with emphasis in Ceramics from the Gwen Frostic School of Art inside Western Michigan University located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. While attending art school she found a passion for working with her hands and using materials from earth to make objects and sculpture.”

I love being in my studio and spend most of my time covered in clay. When I’m not creating work I am a teacher and mother.

In the past I maintained a nomadic lifestyle, showing my work around the country. Now we call Georgia home and absolutely love it here!

As a ceramicist, working directly with earth, I use traditional ceramic techniques rooted in the most ancient form of functional art making. My forms are all handmade and start as a ball of clay. Formed and sculpted with deep intention and attention to detail for they will hold the very nature that nourishes us. The glazes and surface treatments I use on my pots are meant to exaggerate being in nature, to remind others how pristine nature already is. As well as expand our ideas of ritual and tune into the overlooked biological simplicities surrounding our daily lives.

By examining my relationship with earth I have grown to appreciate the smallest details and have become truly grounded in the art of the ceramic process. This allows me the opportunity to share these findings with others and teach what I’ve learned about the world of clay, and what taking part in the making of ceramic vessels has to offer us.